Praying For A Generous Heart to "Go The Extra Mile"

 GOING THE EXTRA MILE

I’ve been thinking today about a principle Jesus taught us - the "going the extra mile" principle which encourages us to live from a generous heart.  Jesus taught us not to do things simply out of a forced sense of obligation or from a bitter reaction to the bad behaviour of others.  His standard for us is to show kindness, grace, and generosity in doing our duty and doing what we can to help our neighbours.

In Jesus’ day there was a much-hated custom that a soldier in the occupying army could enforce. An ordinary citizen could be ordered to carry a soldier’s heavy load for one mile.  This was inconvenient, humiliating, and disruptive for the person.  Here’s the custom and here’s Jesus teaching:

If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.  Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.  Matthew 5:41-42

There will always be circumstances and rules that stretch our kindness and patience and stir-up our character defects.  Our choice is, will we react with anger and mean-spiritedness or will we go the extra mile?

Loving God.  We want to be like Jesus.  We say we are His followers and we want to act like it.  No one practiced this “going the extra mile” principle more than Jesus.  Our hearts and lives are challenged by the depth of His willingness to be inconvenienced on our behalf.  As the Bible tells us:

Jesus was equal with God. But Jesus didn’t take advantage of that fact.  Instead, he made himself nothing. He did this by taking on the nature of a servant.  He was made just like human beings. He appeared as a man. He was humble and obeyed God completely. He did this even though it led to his death. Even worse, he died on a cross!   Philippians 2:6b-8

Thank You God, that while we were still lost in our sin and rebellious ways, You took notice of us, and acted on our behalf.  Thank you, Jesus for going the extra mile for us by dying on the cross to provide forgiveness for our sins and to restore us to eternal life with You forever.

We know that to follow Jesus in life means that we are also willing to go the extra mile on behalf of others, and that’s not easy, particularly with people who irritate us and make unreasonable demands of our time, or with conditions that seem to go on and on and to require a lot of extra bother and commitment. 

So once again we ask for the grace we need while we make small sacrifices on our own.  Help us to keep Your generous sacrifice in mind through it all, and to offer our service to You as we reach out to help others. 

We are reminded again of that simple instruction the prophet Micah reminded us of when he wrote:

O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

Help us to walk in wisdom and with generosity throughout this day.  Amen